


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

by afewmistakesago



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Bakery AU, F/M, Fluff, bae helps, belle bakes, gold watches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8203283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afewmistakesago/pseuds/afewmistakesago
Summary: Prompt: My kid’s class is having a little Halloween celebration and I promised to bring a good snack, but I have no idea how to bake, and you work at a bakery, please help me. A/N: I took some liberties with the prompt, but here’s some AU Rumbelle fluffy fluff to make up for the angst on the show at the moment.





	

Adam Gold was quickly scrolling through his e-mails, not paying much attention to Mrs. Nolan’s Third Grade Class Report, until he noticed his name. He scrolled up, reading the subject of the e-mail again. “Snacks for the Halloween Party”.

Sure enough, his name was under the section titled “Cupcakes”. “Bailey?” he called, waiting on the sound of his son’s feet down the stairs.

“Yeah, dad?”

“Why does Mrs. Nolan think I’m going to have cupcakes for your class,” he glanced at a calendar and felt weary, “tomorrow?”

Bailey’s eyes widened, and then he looked down, his feet shuffling nervously. “I forgot to tell you,” he mumbled. “She passed the sign-up board around class and I forgot to tell you.”

His son’s voice was rising. “But it’s okay, right? Don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you,” he said with a sigh. “It’ll be okay. Just try to remember to tell me these things with more than a day’s notice, okay?”

“Okay,” Bailey said, his tiny head nodding in agreement. He walked to the cabinet, looking around. “We don’t have any cake mix. Or flour.”

“Astute observation,” Adam said under his breath, looking over Bailey’s shoulder. He had been intending to go grocery shopping all week but his job and keeping Bailey’s activities straight had been keeping him busy. The cabinet was truly desolate. He scratched his chin, eyes wandering around the kitchen. Unless he was going to make cupcakes with fruit snacks, coffee, and some bananas that were looking a little too brown, he needed to go to the store.

His neighbor Belle, he suddenly remembered, was a baker. She owned the small bakery down Main Street, Cinnamon & Company. He’d been into the bakery on multiple occasions and she’d always greeted him warmly, giving him a discount for being her neighbor. Belle seemed to keep the bakery running by pure optimism alone. That, and her maple tarts were to die for.

Would it be rude to ask her for the ingredients for cupcakes? Surely, she had some. Adam felt worry grow in his stomach. It had been ages since he’d made cupcakes from scratch, and the best baker in Storybrooke wasn’t likely to just have a box mix. His anxiety wasn’t just about the baking itself - it was about Belle. The way she smiled at him with her clear blue eyes made his heart do a stupid flip-flop that he didn’t really let himself think about. 

He felt a tug on his sleeve. “Dad,” Bailey said suddenly, ripping him from his own thoughts. “What are we gonna do?”

Adam looked down at his son. “Want to go see if Ms. Belle can help us out?”

His son’s mouth dropped. “Ms. Belle makes the best cupcakes ever!”

“What about the cupcakes I make?” he asked, ruffling Bailey’s hair, knowing the answer already.

“They’re… okay, but hers are better.”

“Ouch,” he said, pretending to be hurt. “Now go on, get your shoes.”

\---

She was blinking back sleep when she opened the door. Sometimes, her sister Lacey liked to visit her late at night, so it was probably her. Instead, at her doorstep at 8:30pm, stood Adam and Bailey Gold. They’d been neighbors for years, but the most they’d interacted was when he came into the shop to buy one thing or another. From what she’d deduced, he worked at the law firm down the road from the bakery. He was a good man, and he cared about his son, and Belle had always found that admirable.

Belle tilted her head, yawning. “Can I help you boys? Do you need me to buy popcorn or a coupon card? My checkbook is -”

“No, no,” Adam said, seeming embarrassed. “We don’t need money.” 

“We need cupcakes!” Bailey said, clearly excited by his trip across the street.

Belle raised her eyebrows, looking at Adam. “The bakery is closed right now, and it’s downtown,” she said, hoping he got that she was joking.

The man sighed, looking at the ground. “Bailey forgot to tell me his class Halloween party is tomorrow and he signed me up to bring cupcakes. I just wondered if you had the ingredients.”

“Oh!” Belle said, “Yeah, I can help. Come on in.”

She led the two men through her house, turning on her lights as she went. Belle also realized she was wearing sweatpants, a Storybrooke High School t-shirt, and fuzzy socks. C’est la vie. 

“Were you… asleep, Belle?” Adam asked, wincing, like he was afraid of the answer.

“Trying to,” she said, opening a cabinet and beginning to pull ingredients. “My shift starts at 4am tomorrow.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’ll bring you a coffee tomorrow morning to make up for it?”

“It’s no trouble,” Belle said, setting eggs and butter on her kitchen counter. “It’s neighborly, right?”

“Bailey,” she said, turning to look at the young boy who was glancing around her messy kitchen, eyes wide with wonder. “It’s a Halloween party, yes?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, her heart melting with the sincerity in his caramel brown eyes.

“How do chocolate chip pumpkin cupcakes sound?”

“Awesome!” he said. 

She smiled. “Perfect.”

Going through her recipe books, she found the exact one she was looking for, then had Bailey check off ingredients as she found them in her cupboards. Adam nervously hovered at the back of the kitchen, like he was afraid she would suddenly get upset and tell him to leave. She pulled out her mixer, and Adam began to protest. “Belle, we just need the ingredients, we don’t need your kitchen supplies, too.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him, her hand settling on her hip. “If you use my ingredients, you’re making them here. I’ll help. It’ll be fun.”

“Fun,” he repeated, seeming unsure. 

“Mmhmm,” she said, walking towards him and extending her hand. “Come on, Mr. Gold.”

He took her hand in his cautiously, and she led him towards the counter. His hand felt perfect in hers, just big enough. She felt her body grow tingly, then brushed it off. His eight year old son was with them, for god’s sakes. “Why don’t you and Bailey start on the instructions, and I’ll go change into real clothes, hmm? There’s aprons on the hook behind that door,” Belle instructed, dropping his hand and walking out towards her room, noticing the look of incredulousness on his face as he left. “Don’t blow anything up!” she called, hearing Bailey laugh in response.

\----

Maybe it was because of all the coffee she was consuming to stay awake, but Belle was somehow beautiful and patient and intelligent and funny and an incredible baker. He was watching from a distance as she quizzed Bailey on what he was being for Halloween (a ninja), if he took karate (yes, on Tuesdays), and what he liked about school (recess). While doing this, she managed to gently commandeer the whole process of measuring and mixing and pouring.

When the cupcake batter was evenly poured into the paper containers and put into the oven, Belle joined Adam at the table as Bailey poured over her many cookbooks.

“This one is just recipes with vegetables!” he exclaimed, and Adam chuckled.

“You’ve made his whole year,” he said. 

Belle smiled, taking another sip of her coffee that seemed to be mostly cream and sugar.

“It is past his bedtime,” Adam revealed, watching his son, avoiding her gaze. “And yours. I’m really sorry, again, I should have called over or -”

“Adam,” she said softly, reaching to cover his hand with hers. “It’s okay. The best things happen with no plans.”

He wasn’t sure about that, but he nodded, a soft smile playing at his lips as she withdrew her hand. That was the second time she’d held his hand that night. Maybe he should ask her out. That was a ludicrous, thought, of course, because she was young and stunning and he was an old single dad who hadn’t dated in years. But nonetheless, what could it hurt…

“You’ll have to come tell me how these go over with the class,” Belle said, “It’s one of my very favorite fall recipes.”

“Of course,” he said, watching the minutes tick down on Belle’s timer.

\---

Cinnamon & Company was bustling with customers. It was the day before Halloween, a Friday, and the small place was warm, decorated with fall colors, the chalkboard advertising their various holiday-themed specials. 

Adam had just left Bailey’s class party, and he had come to tell Belle of the cupcake’s huge success with the normally picky third-grade class. He was looking for her, instead finding a short, stocky man with a name tag that read “Will” manning the cash register. Waiting for a moment, he saw Belle walk out from the back room, her black “Cinnamon & Co.” shirt making her stand out as an employee. Her eyes lit up when she saw him waiting in line.

“Adam!” she said happily, and he stepped out of line to talk to her. Her hair was down, the auburn curls falling behind her back. It was normally up when she was baking. “Did Bailey’s class like my cupcakes?”

“They loved them,” he said, matching her smile. 

She fist pumped, looking like a complete dork. “I’ve met the approval of third graders!”

“You have!” he said. “And it looks like the bakery has been busy.”

“Nothing like pumpkin flavored anything to get into the Halloween spirit,” Belle said, motioning at her near-empty display case. “Can I get you anything? Scone? Cookie? On the house.”

“No, that’s okay,” he said, though he felt his stomach growl at the idea of one of her blueberry scones. “I came, actually, because I have another request.”

“Oh?” she asked, tilting her head, her gaze making him feel like they were the only two people in the whole store.

“I promised you I’d buy you a cup of coffee,” he said, trying his best not to stumble over his words. “But what if we actually made it a date?”

Belle smiled. “I couldn’t wait for you to ask me out.”

“Really?”

“Really,” she confirmed.

“Just not tomorrow night, because I have to take Bailey trick-or-treating, but the day after could work,” he said.

“November 1st,” she said. “It’s a date.”

“It’s a date.”


End file.
